I walk along the path of thorns

As we walk along this journey of life there is one thing we as Christians must realise. Life on earth is never a bed of roses. It may push you, hurt you, torture you or even stab you in the back repeatedly. The devil may tempt you with its full effort to break you, but if you believe in God you will have the strength to fight back, to say no! Through these challenges we face in life our path towards Heaven gets clearer, and our journey towards God becomes a goal, a target. Something we have to sacrifice for, and something we must look forward to accomplishing.

St. Faustina has explained this brilliantly in her diary as she explains her very famous vision. The following passages are taken directly from her diary, referring to her visions of Hell and Heaven.

“…I saw two roads. One was broad, covered with sand and flowers, full of joy, music and all sorts of pleasures. People walked along it, dancing and enjoying themselves. They reached the end without realizing it. And at the end of the road there was a horrible precipice; that is, the abyss of hell. The souls fell blindly into it; as they walked, so they fell. And their number was so great that it was impossible to count them.”

“And I saw the other road, or rather, a path, for it was narrow and strewn with thorns and rocks; and the people who walked along it had tears in their eyes, and all kinds of suffering befell them. Some fell down upon the rocks, but stood up immediately and went on. At the end of the road there was a magnificent garden filled with all sorts of happiness and all these souls entered there. At the very first instant they forgot all their sufferings.” (Diary 153)

This simply shows that if your life is perfect, comfortable and there is nothing wrong, it means you are on the wrong path. If you choose the easy way out the end result will be bad, even deadly. However, if you choose the path of thorns then even if you get a few cuts and scratches, as long as you don’t give up you will find your way, and God is waiting on the other end with open arms to accept you when you arrive. In the end you will be happy, as you will be side by side with Jesus.

Therefore the one simple advice I would like to give you today is,

“Trust in God and accept your thorns with open arms! Jesus will not abandon you. In the end you will be free, you will be happy!”